Rigatoni with lentils, while not a truly one pot dish because you have to cook the pasta separately is almost a one pot meal. Pasta and basically anything is a great combination. Here we pair wide tubes of rigatoni with creamy, rich lentils. The wide tubes of ringtoni are great for holding the lentils. This hearty dish can be a meal unto itself or serve it with a salad for some eatra greens.
Prep Time: 12 hours, includes time to soak lentils and cook pasta
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4-6
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dry lentils
1 pound rigatoni pasta
1 TBL olive oil
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery stalks, diced
1 medium white onion, diced
2 cups of white wine
1 cup vegetable broth
1 TBL vegan butter
¼ cup nutritional yeast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp rice viengar
Directions:
1. Place lentils in a large bowl and over with water. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let soak for 12 hours or overnight.
2. Drain lentils and rinse them with room temperature water.
3. When lentils are almost done soaking, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add some salt and cook pasta according to directions. When done, drain the pasta and set aside.
4. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Sauté until onions are translucent and carrots and celery are soft, about 8 minutes.
5. Add the lentils and white wine. Cook at medium heat until lentils are al dente, about 15 minutes. You may need to use a little vegetable broth in the mixture if the wine doesn’t provide enough liquid to completely cook lentils. Stir frequently adding broth as needed until cooked. If there is a lot of liquid left after lentils are cooked, turn the heat up to high and reduce until there is only about 2 TBL of liquid left. You don’t want the mixture completely dry. Turn heat back to medium when done.
6. Add the butter and nutritional yeast to the lentil mixture and stir to thoroughly combine.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add rice vinegar and stir to thoroughly combine.
9. Add cooked rigatoni to the pan and toss several times until rigatoni is coated with lentils.
10. Spoon into bowls and serve.
